This invention relates generally to fireplace enclosures, and more particularly to panelled enclosures of the type employing folding doors and wire mesh screens disposed behind the doors.
In the past, one or more collapsible wire mesh screens have frequently been employed with enclosures of the glass door variety, to confine the burning ashes while still permitting heat convection into the room. The pull-chain mechanisms employed with such screens often involved complex tracks, guides, or channels for the chain. Usually there was a series of hangers slidable along the tracks or channels, secured to the mesh along spaced intervals at the top edges thereof. In many cases after prolonged periods of use and under the influence of heating, the hangers had a tendency to bind in the tracks, causing malfunctioning or erratic operation. In addition, there was often no provision for overlapping the two screen parts at the center of the enclosure, since the hangers carrying the parts could not by-pass one another where a single track was employed. Special track configurations and their associated hangers were sometimes expensive to produce, thus adding materially to their manufacturing and assembly costs.
In addition, where bead-type pull-chains were employed, there was a tendency for the beads to become jammed on the guides therefor, thus causing either malfunction of the screen or breakage of the chain. Repair of the latter was sometimes difficult, because it was frequently not readily accessible, even from the rear of the enclosure.